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2" OLV Lift Install '04 AWD to 4" Lift to 5" Lift

37K views 111 replies 22 participants last post by  thenextdon13 
#1 ·
Got the front part of my Overland 2" lift installed yesterday then the heavy rains came and disrupted as I was finishing bumper bracket, bumper, etc.

While looking for tight lines, cables, etc, I noticed the upper radiator hose and throttle cable are a little tight so will probably try and re-route those and maybe trim the lips off the upper shroud that keeps the upper hose from moving. Also, the lower rad hose is fairly close to serpentine belt so I'm going to play with that and see if I can space it further away. Other than those few items, everything looks good, pretty straightforward install, no pics from that part as I was in too much of a hurry trying to beat the rain.

Today, I finished up the rear with the Overland lift shackles. I bought the kit used from a member on here and the shackles needed new bushings which I sourced from airbagit.com. With new bushings installed and fully greased, the original shackles came out with ease and slotted the lift shackles in place.





The Yokohama Geolandar A/T-S 235/70-16 tires (29.2") actually rub more with the lift installed as the front bumper lower is moved closer to the centerline of the tire. So, I still have some bumper cover trimming and bracket relocation to perform and replace broken rear e-brake cable.

I adjusted the driver's side torsion bar one turn (approximately 1/4") to even out front ride height. I don't ever drive with any rear seats in the van and the fuel tank is next to empty right now. The rear driver's side started out 1/4" higher than passenger side, so drive it some and see if it settles and make adjustments from there.

Front measurement:


Rear measurement:


Here's the van pre-lift with new tires:


Lift installed:


Pre-lift:


Lift installed:






Next up I need to replace passenger side wheel hub and then I'll do add-a-leaf springs for the rear to firm up the back to better support load without sag.
 
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#4 ·
Thanks, would like to do additional lift at some point but with new tires and alignment will keep as-is - for a little while anyway! Previous to alignment I added just under an inch of front ride height via torsion bar preload, due to sag in front and even out with rear.

I''ll pm you on those add-a-leafs.
 
#7 ·
Got back from an around town and highway test run, I really need to trim the bumper cover in the morning so I don't scare everyone at the gas station pulling up to the pumps!

More serious, I have a vibration from take-off up to about 20mph or so. I'm going to take the one turn of preload out of the driver's side torsion bar I added to even out ride height and test drive in the morning. This feels like it's coming through the front drivetrain, not the rear and while the passenger side hub bearing has a slight amount of play it wasn't vibrating before lift install. :think:
 
#9 ·
Yep, when I was looking for the source of play in right front wheel I noticed some light colored grease flung off of inner cv and thought it was the Amsoil grease I used to lube chassis and some ended up on the cv and got flung off. I looked at the passenger halfshaft again today when trimming bumper cover for tire clearance and think the grease might be coming out the end of the inner cv boot (towards center) and maybe the clamp is loose. Also noticed the axle seal I replaced not too long ago is leaking again so gotta check fluid level in front diff in the am.

So... looks like I may be doing passenger side wheel hub, cv halfshaft and axle seal. Probably gonna replace axle housing tube that bolts to front diff as well because I tried to clean up a little nick/gouge in the housing where the seal seats and think that may be the source of the seal leak.
 
#12 ·
Thanks for the link, those are nice shackles and a little less expensive than Overland.

It confused me though, a lift shackle in the lowering shaclkes section of the website..

I was thinking of getting a set to help tweak the van level but it looks like I was crooked when I measured it. Must have been me with my new short leg..

But now with the torsions and KYB's I think I'm going to raise the front up 1-1.5"
 
#13 ·
From searching another thread here: viewtopic.php?f=40&t=11591&p=127905&hilit=airbagit#p127905
those shackles are the ones Overland supplies in the kit and the replacement bushings I ordered from them are the same. Yes, it's a little strange they are in the lowering section of the site. Overland had the bushings in stock as you told me but were a little slower in responding to my inquiry so I ordered the bushings over the phone from Airbagit as I wanted to make sure I was getting the right parts. They were pleasant to deal with, reasonable price on the bushings/shipping. You can possibly get a 5% discount or so if you mention Twitter or something too...
 
#14 ·
So...

I installed add-a-leafs to my spring packs, I picked up the Fabtech FTS202's that Shad0wXCalibur didn't have any use for since he went with S10 heavy-duty leaf spring packs. I noticed recently how sagged out my leafs were even unloaded and really bad even with moderate loads so decided to try the add-a-leafs as they were the cheap solution to my sagging leaf springs. I'll get into the install when I have time, I figured you'd rather see pictures in order to get an idea of what they do.

Previous to FTS202 leaf spring install with OLV 2" lift, shackles in highest position these are the measurements (ground to fender):

LF 33"
RF 33 1/4"
LR 34 1/8"
RR 34"

With FTS202 leaf springs installed:

LF 33 1/4" (+2 turns preload - I noticed this side was sagging again, same as pre-lift)
RF 33 1/2"
LR 35 5/8"
RR 35 5/8"

I then added lift to front in order to even out with rear via torsion preload and kept track of how many full rotations (if need to return to previous setting):

LF 34" (+4 turns, approximately 2 turns remaining before bolt bottoms)
RF 34" (+2 1/2 turns, only 1/2 turn remaining before bolt bottoms)
LR 35 5/8"
RR 35 5/8"

So the add-a-leafs added approximately 1 1/2" of lift in the back, the front is max lift with stock torsion keys and the vibration that appeared after the original 2" lift install has disappeared. :auto-mysterymachine:

Still sorting out some things with shocks and shock mounts but looks like going to be welding new shocks mounts on rear axle.





Here's an animation showing the the evolution of lift:

 
#18 ·
That is one nice looking Van, the lift looks awesome! Its just the inspiration I need for my next day off when I am planning to install my front lift blocks! :rockon:
 
#20 ·
Thanks guys, I'm really satisfied with the outcome and sorting through shock options now as my original plan didn't pan out. I'd like to sell these tires and pick up some 265/70-16s but that's not in the cards right now. It'd look right though, that's for sure!

I loaded it down with toolbox, jacks, jackstands, storage bins, misc parts, etc and lost about an inch of height in the rear so it's sitting about 1/2 higher in rear than front right now.

Lumpy, I googled "create gif" and went to the first one on the page http://picasion.com/ and uploaded pics. Genius, pure genius. :lol:
 
#21 ·
Your van's rake looks almost just like mine. I like it in a sense that if it's heavily loaded down, instead of looking like it's sagging, it'll just level out. Those tires don't look bad with that lift. My stock tires measure at about 27" or something so they look tiny :x
 
#22 ·
Yep, when loaded it's still just a bit higher in the back than front, I like it.

Couple pics of the leaf spring install, after cutting the long installation bolts down, welded the nut to bolt to keep from moving as the fine threads on those bolts aren't very sturdy.



 
#23 ·
After installing the add-a-leaf springs, new u-joints for the rear driveshaft and lubing splines on front driveshaft, I thought the van drove nice on the way home. After driving today, it turns out I've got a pretty good vibration/rumble at about 60-65mph. Probably didn't notice it on the way home before because I accelerated onto highway and was cruising about 80 all the way and today's drive was all about 55-65 with traffic so was very noticeable.

Tonight I checked driveshaft alignment and pulled the shaft again to check on my new u-joints. I noticed the one on the front of the shaft connected to the yolk was a bit tight in one direction so tapped on the ears with my 30lb hammer until it loosened up about the same as the others. I also tried rotating the rear diff yolk 180 degrees when re-installing driveshaft and went for a test ride with no appreciable difference in the vibration.

I'm thinking it's related to the pinion angle and lift shackles in combination with installing the add-a-leafs. When I first installed the 2" OLV kit, I had a bit of vibration under acceleration from take-off to about 20-30mph which disappeared and replaced with the new vibration at 60mph. Tomorrow I'm going to adjust the shackles to the lowest position and test drive with it like that to see if the vibration changes or disappears. If it does, then I'll remove the leaf spring packs again and install the 4 degree pinion shims and see if that solves the problem.

I'm liking the idea of the heavy duty S10 leaf springs and stock shackles more and more every day.
 
#25 ·
Yeah, it will be interesting to see what happens when set the shackles to the low position and then if the pinion shims do the trick.

I'm going to use longer u-bolts and bolts on the leaf springs too because with the add-a-leafs I left the rubber pads out in order to have enough room to tighten the clamps and didn't have time to go get new hardware.
 
#26 ·
Are you going to use longer U-bolts with the stock clamshells? If so I would just like to see a pic of how it works out for you. I have been putting off installing my 2" leaf blocks cause I'm not sure what to do to hold them in....stock clamshells or something else?

I have a little vibration sometimes with my shackles. Its not everytime and doesn't seem to be at one certain speed. So, I like your idea of just getting big enough leaf packs you don't have to mess with anything else and can get rid of the shackles.
 
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